April 2011 Archives

Team USA beat Austria 5-1 on Saturday at the IIHF World Championships in Slovakia, and Jack Johnson pitched in with an assist in a team-leading 23:27 time on ice.

According to a report in USA Today, Johnson arrived at the tournament last night.

"I can't say enough about (Johnson)," Team USA head coach Scott Gordon told the newspaper. "The call goes out to him, and it wasn't, 'I got to see if I'm healthy or check with my agent.' It was, 'When does the flight leave?' ... I was excited when they told me he was coming over because he gives it everything he has."

The U.S. plays Norway on Monday.

A couple other notes from the tournament:

• Anze Kopitar's father, Matjaz, is the head coach of the Slovenian national team that lost to Slovakia, 3-1 on Friday night.

• Former Kings goalie Erik Ersberg was in the losing net in Norway's 5-4 shootout win over Sweden today. According to IIHF.com, it was Norway's first win ever in international championship competition over Sweden, a history that extends back 61 years.

• Update: The Kings announced that forward Michal Handzus has been added to the roster for Team Slovakia. He joins Johnson and Jonathan Bernier (Canada) as the only Kings players in the tournament.

Kings goalie Jonathan Bernier was added to Team Canada's roster at the IIHF World Championships, which began today in Slovakia without him.

Bernier was not among the 19 players -- six defensemen, 11 forwards and two goalies -- who helped Canada beat Belarus 4-1 in their first game of the tournament.

In fact, neither he nor Kings defenseman Jack Johnson have been added to the official rosters of Canada or the U.S., respectively.

You can follow the tournament in its entirety from the IIHF website.

Bernier, 22, most recently earned a gold medal for Team Canada at the 2008 World Junior Championships (two games played, 1-1-0 record, 2.00 goals-against-average, .947 save percentage and one shutout) - one of four Kings to play for the team (Drew Doughty, Wayne Simmonds and Thomas Hickey). Bernier has also represented Canada at 2006 World U18 Championships and 2007 Super Series (best junior players from Canada and Russia competing); represented the QMJHL in the Canada-Russia Challenge in 2006; and he represented Team Canada Quebec at 2004 World U17 Hockey Challenge.

"Overtime" and "heartbreak" went together well for the Kings in this year's playoffs. So did "Staples Center" and "heartbreak."

"Kings" and "heartbreak"? Stop me if you've heard that one before.

Joe Thornton's goal at 2:22 of overtime ended the Kings' season Monday with a 4-3 loss at Staples. The Kings finished 0-3 at home in the series, 0-3 in overtime, and finished this season right where they ended the last: Done for the season after six playoff games.

Players and coaches won't be available to the media tomorrow, so a full-fledged "obituary" of the season will have to wait until Wednesday.

The hot-button issue after the game was the absence of Terry Murray and any Kings coaches in the postgame handshake, as described here and here.

I put a request out to the Kings for comment. Like the obituary, it may have to wait.

A few factoids for now:

Jonathan Quick was going to have to steal a game or two for the Kings to have a chance at advancing to the second round.

A couple more games like Saturday's, and they could be in business.

Quick's 51 saves in Game 5 set a franchise playoff record and allowed the Kings to stave off elimination. His counterpart, Antti Niemi, could scarcely have been worse, allowing three goals on the Kings' first four shots. Wayne Simmonds and Dustin Penner got their first goals of the playoffs, while Kyle Clifford got his third.

The Kings' 52 shots allowed were also a record, but the Sharks couldn't do much with them. One reason was the Kings' success in the faceoff circle: 31-25 as a team, highlighted by a 15-2 record by Jarret Stoll. Another reason was the lack of odd-man rushes for the Sharks, as the Kings succeeded in plugging the holes in front of Quick.

"It was just more of a home plate attitude," Quick said. "They kept a lot of the guys out -- a lot of the shots were from the perimeter, limited their Grade-A chances from last time."

Mostly, however, it was Quick. Acrobatic at times and always calm, he made 19 saves in the first period, 15 in the second and 18 in the third.

The series shifts back to Staples Center on Monday at 7 p.m.

A few more notes and observations:

Maybe you had forgotten about Anze Kopitar, but Terry Murray hasn't.

The question after Thursday's Game 4 loss was fairly innocuous -- can any lineup changes be made at this point, down three games to one? -- but the answer was revealing.

"I'm playing what I've got," Murray said. "Kopitar's not coming back, guys. He's got a broken leg."

Well, yeah. We knew that.

Maybe the more important question is, why can't the Kings play defense all of a sudden?

They scored twice in the final nine minutes of the second period to spoil Antti Niemi's shutout and pull within 3-2 heading into the final frame.

Yet just as the wheels came off in the second period of Game 3, when San Jose erupted for five goals to erase a 4-0 Kings lead, there was Joe Thornton and no one else, alone in the slot with all the time in the world to score the Sharks' fourth goal.

"That was a big goal for us," San Jose forward Logan Couture said. "That gave us the confidence back, the swagger we have on the ice."

The Sharks scored the next two goals to make it a 6-2 game, and the verdict was unsealed: It was going to take a miracle for the Kings to save this series.

Catch all the game details in tomorrow's editions. Here are a few notes that won't make the paper. Some more notes and observations:

It didn't take much of a prompt for Terry Murray to go off on the importance of faceoffs after a rather uneventful morning skate at the Kings' practice facility Thursday morning.

Some of this will make my notebook in tomorrow's editions, some of it won't. But it's worth noting that this was the coach's response to a question about whether he talked about faceoffs with the players after Game 3, in which the Sharks went 39-25 on draws:

Ryan Smyth has been there before.

It was Game 1 of the 2006 Stanley Cup Finals, his Edmonton Oilers against Justin Williams' Carolina Hurricanes. The Oilers led 4-1 after two periods in Raleigh before losing 5-4. The series went the full seven games before Carolina won.

"It really set the shifting of that game, in my opinion, in their favor," said Smyth, one of the Kings' veteran leaders, with Williams sitting a few feet away in the team's locker room after practice. "But we battled hard. We stayed in the series. We obviously pushed it to (Game) 7."

Willie Mitchell has been there before, too.

Down three games to one to the Colorado Avalanche in the 2003 playoffs, his Minnesota Wild won three straight to advance to the second round.

"Sometimes individuals have to go through that in order to know how to handle it," the Kings defenseman said. "The roles have been reversed the other way. We won 4-0 up in San Jose, it was the same thing. It's a learning experience for some guys on this team who haven't been through that."

The Kings' 6-5 loss to the San Jose Sharks in Game 3 of their first-round series Tuesday was nothing new to several of the teams' veterans. The Kings, Chicago Blackhawks and Nashville Predators are the youngest teams participating in the playoffs (average age: 26.9).

Head coach Terry Murray complimented the older players Wednesday, when the Kings went back practice trying to put Tuesday's debacle behind them.

The hashtags and catchphrases were skipping through cyberspace within a half-hour of Devin Setoguchi's goal at 3:09 of overtime: "The Failure on Figueroa."

After squandering a 4-0, second-period lead, the Kings' 6-5 overtime loss in Game 3 to the San Jose Sharks can be seen as nothing less.

"We've got to look at what happened in the second (period), learn from it," a despondent Kings captain Dustin Brown said, "because we don't have the type of team that can take periods off, especially at this time of year."

Apparently the Sharks do -- a revelation that may ultimately prove the difference in the series.

Antti Niemi was pulled after allowing four goals on 10 shots, the last of which came 44 seconds into the second period on a Brad Richardson wrister.

Somehow, inexplicably, the Sharks shed the ghosts of postseasons past by scoring five goals over the remainder of the second period. Only a backdoor, breakaway tally by Ryan Smyth interrupted the onslaught and kept the teams tied at 5 heading into the third period.

"[It was] puck management," Brown said. "We needed to get the puck deep on them. They're a fast offensive team and we gave them chances and plays. They can find lanes and open areas to get some goals, and that's kind of what happened with the overtime goal. They transitioned it from their end, and it was pretty quick."

Like ripping off a band-aid, Setoguchi's first goal of the series provided a stinging, decisive conclusion to a back-and-forth game.

The question now: How deep do the Kings' emotional wounds run?

"It stings right now," Kings defenseman Matt Greene said. "We got to let it go though right away. You give yourself tonight, you feel bad about it, but tomorrow's a new day."

In the last month, Jordan Weal and Tyler Toffoli made the leap from the Canadian Hockey League to the American Hockey League.

Their next jump could be to the NHL.

The Kings signed the teenage prospects to three-year, entry-level contracts Monday. Toffoli, who turns 19 on Sunday, was selected by the Kings in the second round (47th overall) in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft. The 6-foot-1 center led the Ontario Hockey League in goals scored (57) and tied for the league lead in points (108) before joining the Monarchs.

Weal, who turned 19 Friday, was drafted in the third round (70th overall) in 2010. The 5-foot-10 center recorded 96 points and 43 goals in 72 regular-season games for the Western Hockey League's Regina Pats this season.

Toffoli has scored one goal while appearing in all three games of the Monarchs' first-round series with Binghamton. Weal hasn't appeared in any playoff games for Manchester.

Jarret Stoll and Ian White were texting each other over the weekend. Stoll was suspended one game by the NHL for hitting White into the end boards Thursday, which resulted in the Sharks defenseman missing Game 2 himself with a head injury.

"We just chatted a couple times," said Stoll. "He appreciated the text and me reaching out to him. I wanted to make sure I did that, let him know I didn't want to hurt him in any way."

Heck, they could have discussed the incident in the press box at HP Pavilion (although it's worth debating whether climbing several flights of stairs to watch a hockey game being played more than 100 feet below you is recommended for anyone coming off a head injury).

Stoll and White can continue their conversation on the ice Tuesday at Staples Center, when the Sharks and Kings clash in Game 3 of the first-round playoff series.

White told reporters Monday in San Jose that he's feeling well enough to play. Among the Sharks' better point-producing defensemen, a healthy White could cause the Kings some trouble. But Stoll was understandably relieved at the news that White had returned to practice.

"That's good to hear," he said. "From the start, there wasn't any intent to go in and hurt the guy. I know him a little bit, playing against him in junior. I know he's a good guy."

The Kings did not so much as steal a win Saturday, as they did dominate in such a fashion that makes you wonder why they can't win every night.

After converting their first two power plays of the game -- amazing what that can do for a team -- the Kings were able to do what they do best: Play conservative, defensive hockey and give Jonathan Quick a fairly easy path to a 34-save shutout.

Drew Doughty was the offensive catalyst, scoring two goals and assisting on the other two, and tying a franchise record for most points in a playoff game by a defenseman. Paul Coffey was the first Kings defenseman with four points in a playoff game.

"It was a very big win coming into this building in game 2," Kings head coach Terry Murray said. "We were a little short with key players out of the line-up. That requires a really competitive attitude by everyone that's playing. Guys have to really dig in and play hard for each other and I think that's the competitive spirit that our team has shown many, many times over the last few years."

With Jarret Stoll serving a one-game suspension for his Game 1 hit on Ian White (who was replaced in the Sharks' lineup by Niclas Wallin), Oscar Moller and Trevor Lewis were the primary beneficiaries of the minutes at center. Moller played 10:37, finishing plus-1, while Lewis played 17 minutes.

Kyle Clifford and Jack Johnson each had a goal and an assist for the KIngs, who were outshot 34-23.

According to multiple reports, Kings center Jarret Stoll will be suspended one game by the NHL for this hit on San Jose Sharks defenseman Ian White in the first period of Game 1 on Thursday:

The Kings, of course, are already playing without top center Anze Kopitar. Oscar Moller is the only spare player on the current roster with experience at center, though he's been used as a winger since his last recall from Manchester. Speculation will turn to the AHL again, where centers Cory Elkins and John Zeiler have some NHL experience, and Justin Azevedo and Tyler Toffoli are also available.

But none of those names will entice as much speculation as prospect Brayden Schenn, who was assigned to Manchester by the Kings after his junior club, the Saskatoon Blades, was eliminated from the Western Hockey League playoffs Wednesday.

Schenn, 19, was the Kings' first-round draft pick (fifth overall) in 2009. He appeared in eight games for the Kings in October, collecting no goals and two assists, before eventually being re-assigned to juniors. Schenn had 57 points (22 goals, 35 assists) in only 29 games for the Blades and Brandon Wheat Kings this season. In between, he was named Tournament MVP for silver-medal-winning Canada at the World Junior Championships in January.

In March, The Hockey News named Schenn the number one overall prospect in hockey.

Schenn played both a top-six and bottom-six role at times during his brief NHL stint this season. Though he -- or any of the Monarchs' centers, if the Kings choose to go that route -- could supplant Stoll between Ryan Smyth and Dustin Brown, one of those players could also slide back in to a fourth-line role Game 2 on Saturday in San Jose, with Trevor Lewis moving up in the lineup.

Update: As first reported by TSN, the Kings will recall Zeiler from Manchester.

Update two: According to multiple reports, the Kings will not recall Zeiler, or anyone, from Manchester.

Joe Pavelski's goal at 14:44 of overtime ended an impressive upset bid by the Kings in Game 1 in San Jose. There will be more chances to steal wins from the Sharks - but will this be the best?

Down 1-0 on the scoreboard and outshot 18-3, the Kings bounced back after a sluggish start to neutralize the speedy, physical Sharks. Dany Heatley scored on a goal-front tap-in 28 seconds into the game, but Dustin Brown got the next goal off a breakaway pass from Justin Williams at 7:25 of the second period.

Logan Couture snuck a shot through the pads of Jonathan Quick (42 saves) less than three minutes later, at the 10:23 mark, but Williams wasn't done. One day after declaring his separated right shoulder healthy enough for action, the veteran right wing beat Antti Niemi (33 saves) from behind the net to tie the game at 2 at 16:20 of the second period.

The Kings killed off a tripping penalty to Drew Doughty with 2:11 left in regulation to send the game into overtime.

The Kings had their chances in the extra period, putting nine shots on goal to the Sharks' 14. The 14th was the dagger.

Ryane Clowe started the sequence in the defensive zone, picking the puck off Wayne Simmonds's stick to start a 2-on-2 rush going the other way. Pavelski joined the play as Kings defenseman Alec Martinez fell down in the defensive zone and couldn't get back in time to prevent Pavelski from getting off a clean one-timer from the right circle that sailed over Quick's glove.

A few more notes:

Justin Williams told reporters Tuesday in El Segundo that he will "probably" decide by tomorrow on his status for Thursday's Game 1 in San Jose. Williams took part in a full practice for the second straight day.

"Overall, it felt better than yesterday," Williams said. "I hope tomorrow feels better. That's all I can say, really."

Williams hasn't played since suffering a separated right shoulder on March 21, three weeks and a day ago. The original timetable for his recovery was a four-week minimum.

Murray said that Williams would go into a top-six forward role right away. They could use him; in nine games since Williams' injury, the Kings have averaged exactly 2 goals a game.

Also Tuesday, the Kings announced their TV schedule for the series:

Thursday, April 14 7 p.m. Los Angeles at San Jose FSW
Saturday, April 16 7 p.m. Los Angeles at San Jose FSW
Tuesday, April 19 7:30 p.m. San Jose at Los Angeles PRIME
Thursday, April 21 7:30 p.m. San Jose at Los Angeles PRIME
*Saturday, April 23 7:30 p.m. Los Angeles at San Jose PRIME
*Monday, April 25 TBD San Jose at Los Angeles PRIME
*Wednesday, April 27 TBD Los Angeles at San Jose TBD

* = if necessary

As announced on Sunday night by the NHL, the Quarter-Final games will be televised nationally as follows:

Thursday, April 14 7 p.m. Los Angeles at San Jose VERSUS, TSN
Saturday, April 16 7 p.m. Los Angeles at San Jose VERSUS, TSN
Tuesday, April 19 7:30 p.m. San Jose at Los Angeles VERSUS, TSN
Thursday, April 21 7:30 p.m. San Jose at Los Angeles TSN
*Saturday, April 23 7:30 p.m. Los Angeles at San Jose VERSUS, TSN
*Monday, April 25 TBD San Jose at Los Angeles TSN
*Wednesday, April 27 TBD Los Angeles at San Jose TSN
* = if necessary

For radio, all Kings 2011 Playoff games will air on KLAC AM 570.

The only Kings players wearing gray jerseys, Justin Williams and Scott Parse had a whole forward line to themselves Monday.

Call it the "Questionable Line."

It's too soon to say whether Williams or Parse will play when the Kings visit the San Jose Sharks on Thursday for Game 1 of their first-round playoff series. The prognosis was looking better for Williams in his return from a dislocated shoulder.

"My strength is up to par and everything," he said after taking part in a full practice that included light contact. "I just need to get comfortable out there and not think about it and just see how it progresses throughout the week. If I go out there and I'm timid, I'm not going to do it. We'll just take it slowly and, if it happens, great. It's really tough sitting out playoff games, I know that, but I'll try my best."

Williams, whose 57 points and 35 assists (in 73 games) were second on the team, has not played since sustaining the injury March 21 against Calgary.

"I'll get into some more intense battling this week and we'll go from there," he said. "The coach and I and the training staff will make a decision about whether I can go or not."

The Kings are going back to Europe.

For the second time ever, and the first time since 2007, the Kings were chosen Sunday to take part in the "NHL Premiere," a now-annual tradition of beginning the regular season in Europe. The Kings and New York Rangers will open their regular season on Friday, Oct. 7 at Ericsson Globe Arena in Stockholm, Sweden. The next day the Kings play the Buffalo Sabres at O2 World Arena in Hamburg.

What's interesting about this trip is that the Kings currently have no players native to the countries in which they will play, usually a determining factor when the league picks its European-bound teams. The Rangers are led by Swedish goalie Henrik Lundqvist, while the Sabres feature German forward Jochen Hecht.

Kings center Anze Kopitar is an alumnus of the Swedish Elite League, where he played for Södertälje SK for two years before coming to America. That's the most plausible factor that landed the Kings in Sweden.

The Kings lost four straight on American soil after splitting a pair of games with the Ducks at O2 Arena in London to start the 2007-08 season. It will be interesting to see how the team handles its post-European schedule differently this time around.

The Kings are hoping the second all-California NHL playoff series ends just like the first: In favor of Southern California.

The Chicago Blackhawks' 4-3 home loss to Detroit on Sunday means that the Kings will be the seventh seed in the Western Conference and play the second-seeded San Jose Sharks in the first round of the playoffs.

The Sharks will have home-ice advantage when the best-of-seven series starts, which begins Thursday.

Update: Here is the schedule:

Game 1 at San Jose Thursday, 7 p.m.
Game 2 at San Jose Saturday, 7 p.m.
Game 3 at Kings April 19, 7:30 p.m.
Game 4 at Kings April 21, 7:30 p.m.
Game 5 * at San Jose April 23, 7:30 p.m.
Game 6 * at Kings April 25, TBD
Game 7 * at San Jose April 27, TBD
* = if necessary

The Kings and Sharks have never played each other in the playoffs, but the Kings do have experience winning as a seventh seed: Their last playoff series victory came in 2000, when the seventh-seeded Kings toppled the second-seeded Detroit Red Wings in six games.

To repeat the feat would require a sizable upset, but not any more so than the Ducks' six-game series victory over the Presidents Trophy-winning Sharks in 2009.

Vancouver or San Jose?

That's the question facing the Kings after 82 games, the two brands of poison awaiting in the first round for a team that will finish either seventh or eighth in the Western Conference. Here are the scenarios following a season-ending, 3-1 loss to the Ducks:

• If the Chicago Blackhawks beat the Detroit Red Wings today, the Kings are the eighth seed and play Vancouver.

• If Chicago loses in overtime or a shootout, the Kings are the eighth seed and play Vancouver.

• If Chicago loses in regulation, the Kings have the seventh seed and play San Jose.

The Kings went 2-2-0 against the Canucks - 1-1 at home, 1-1 on the road, winning the first two and losing the last two. They went 3-3-0 against the Sharks -- 1-2 on the road, 2-1 at home, and getting both home wins via shootouts.

Not that Terry Murray is crunching numbers just yet.

"I'm not watching the scoreboard right now," the coach said. "It's just disappointing we did not have the handle to take control of our own destiny the last couple games."

The team expects to have its playoff schedule sometime after 7 p.m. tomorrow.

A few notes that won't make tomorrow's editions.

The Kings are honoring the Fan Appreciation Day tradition at the last home game of the regular season with a twist.

The team is partnering with "Be The Match" in hopes of helping a 19-year-old fan named Tanner Raboin by staging a Bone Marrow Registry Drive across from section 115 during the duration of the Kings-Ducks game. Tanner is a college student who is battling chronic illness as a result of a genetic disorder called Chronic Granulomatous Disease (CGD).

From the team's press release:

The registration process to become a potential marrow donor involves: a consent form that includes basic contact information, race & ethnicity, simple health history questions and a signature. Once that is complete, the person registering does a self-administered cheek swab that takes less than a minute.

Due to his current ailment he is unable to partake in his number one passion, attending Kings games.

Throughout the season, "Tannerheads" were seen at every Kings related event. Tannerhead was created by Tanner's father as a tribute to his son, and vowed to include him (Tannerhead) in every Kings related event until he is well enough to attend himself.

Tanner is a patient at the National Institutes of Health, under the National Institute for Allergies and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). He is closely followed by the Laboratory of Clinical Infectious Diseases team (LCID). Tanner was admitted at NIH Clinical Center on December 07, 2010, for further treatment of increased lung infiltrates. He has not improved clinically, and is under aggressive antibiotic and anti-fungal treatment.

Given the serious nature of his infection and illness at present, Tanner is participating in a research study that focuses on his illness and receiving treatment for his infections and is admitted indefinitely until the infections are under control. Tanner was placed in the National Marrow Donor registry almost three months ago with no match to date. It is the intension of Tanner and his doctors to find a donor match, that will ultimately cure him of his disease. At present Tanner has made no significant improvement since being admitted at NIH, and may need to use a transplant to ultimately save his life.

Be The Match is a movement that engages a growing community of people inspired to help patients who need a marrow or umbilical cord blood transplant from an unrelated donor. Be The Match offers the public an opportunity to get involved by joining the Be The Match Registry, donating umbilical cord blood, contributing financially to Be The Match FoundationSM or volunteering time.

Of the many questions they have faced this season, the Kings answered the biggest of them all on Wednesday: They will participate in the playoffs.

A dominant victory over a possible first-round playoff opponent would have been a nice luxury. A 3-2 shootout win, in which Jonathan Quick stopped two out of the three shooters and Michal Handzus and Jarret Stoll beat Ilya Bryzgalov, got the job done.

The Kings moved into fourth place in a still-tight Western Conference playoff race, and have the inside track on home-ice advantage for the first round. Stoll also scored in regulation off a terrific Dustin Brown set-up, and Kyle Clifford scored off a terrific Wayne Simmonds set-up.

The Kings finished 3-3 against the Coyotes in the regular season, winning the last two.

Here are a few more notes that won't make tomorrow's editions: